Hi guys i am wanting to buy thermal paste that is good for gpus as my current gd900 inst holding really well for my rx 580 but works well for cpus so could u guys recommend me some thermal paste for gpus?

Generally the same stuff you use for CPUs would work for GPUs as well, I don't see why it would be different.

I use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut for both. A more budget option would be Arctic MX4, which is cheaper and a bit easier to apply from what I remember but has slightly worse thermal conductivity (in most cases though this would matter very little if at all).

Kryonaut, Arctic MX4, Noctua NTH1, Mastergel Nano, they are similar in performance.

I vote for Kryonout.. buy the big paste 5gm i think.. 1gm is too little to use multiple times

want to ask and learn from others experience on this.

I've always had the impression (until rtx 3000 series come out) that GPU chip/die produces lesser heat vs CPU and the conventional wisdom is that gpu would then just need same or lower quality thermal paste vs cpu.

Kryonout is an extremely good paste... definitely will work but expensive right?

GPU thermal has always been much higher than CPU. That is why putting radiator/AIO in the front with fans sucking air in (for GPU usage) is more ideal than having the radiator/AIO on top where they will use the heated air from GPU.

Does the Kryonaut dries up and hardern much faster than MX4? Or are they designed to be like that?

So many recommendation ignore all specification numbers. Recommended are thermal compounds that put most of your money into advertising, hype, and other propaganda sources. Not in facts or into that thermal compound.

Relevant parameter measures thermal conductivity. Direct 'semiconductor to heatsink' interface is hundreds of W/K-m. What is that number for those highly promoted 'magic' thermal compounds? One is only 8.4 W/K-m.

That is more conductive than air (typically less than 1 W/K-m). So thermal compound is applied to only fill microscopic air gaps.

Heatsink is tapered and pressed hard on a semiconductor to squeeze thermal compound out (except in those microscopic gaps). Direct contact accounts for tens of degrees temperature reduction. Thermal compound is added to only reduce temperatures by a few (single digit) degrees more.

Really does not matter which thermal compound is used. Best is to buy same thermal compound that does not have hyped names (Kryonaut, Arctic Silver) so as to cost up to ten times more money. Only recommendation, that is not ignored, will cite relevant specification numbers (ie W/K-m).

Far more attention focuses on how well a heatsink is machined and mounted. So that direct contact to that semiconductor increases.

Another myth is drying. Thermal compound remains just as thermally conductive - wet or dry. It is originally wet so that a heatsink can sufficiently squeeze it out (except in those microscopic air gaps). So that compound does not obstruct what transfers most heat - direct contact. Once applied and properly squeezed out, then thermal compound remains just as thermally conductive even 20 years later.

More information discussed here.

This post has been edited by westom: Dec 23 2020, 04:04 AM

just ask shop, any one works for cpu is good for gpu as well. Like thermaltake and artic silver.

Depends on the casing. Large casing is less affected due to more fans and room for cool air.

Thanks for the info. It just very troublesome to remove heatsink if the thermal paste hardened and become sticky. My CPU come out together with the heatsink from the socket because of this, luckily it wasn't damanged. So I don't want to use the Kryonaut on my CPU anymore, unless I got a bad batch or something. MX4 doesn't dry up so fast.

I use arctic mx 4. I used to use kryonaut but they're too expensive and the difference is like 1C to 2C lol. Not worth in my opinion.